Eugene Lacomble

Eugene Lacomble (26 October 1896-27 February 1942) was a Royal Netherlands Navy captain who commanded HNLMS De Ruyter during World War II. He went down with his ship at the Battle of the Java Sea.

Biography
Eugene Lacomble was born in Arnhem, Netherlands on 26 October 1896, and he joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1917 after graduating from the Netherlands Naval College. He was posted in the East Indies, and he began his career aboard the coastal defense ship De Ruyter; he would end his career aboard a ship of the same name. In 1938, he became first officer aboard the HNLMS De Ruyter, a light cruiser, and he became its captain on 1 February 1940. On 27 February 1942, during the Battle of the Java Sea, the De Ruyter was hit by a Japanese torpedo and sunk, and Admiral Karel Doorman and Captain Lacomble decided to go down with the ship.